MultiTree:

Name: Aleut Type: Language Alternate Names: Unangany; Unangan; Unanghan; Amara; Aleutian Spoken in: USA, Russia Number of speakers: 300 in United States (Krauss 1995). Population total all countries: 490. Ethnic population: 1,024 (2000, US census) (Ethnologue) Number of speakers: 305 (UNESCO) Number of speakers: 490 (World Oral Literature Project) Code: ale Code Standard: ISO 639-3 Documentation: SIL Families: Eskimo-Aleut Parent Subgroup: Aleut (alut) Brief Description: "Aleut is the only language of the Aleut branch of the Eskimo-Aleut family. Its speakers are indigenous to the Aleutian Islands, the Pribilof Islands, and the Alaska Peninsula west of Stepovak Bay. The only major internal division occurs at Atka Island, separating Eastern from Western dialects. The traditional ethnonym is Unangan ('Aleuts' was introduced by Russian explorers, who used the same term for the Pacific Yupik Eskimos). Of a current population of about 2,200 Aleuts, about 150-160 speak the language. In the early nineteenth century Russian Orthodox missionaries promoted native literacy and helped foster a remarkably bilingual society. The most notable of these missionaries, Ivan Veniaminov, developed a writing system and translated religious material into Aleut." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Language 2007 pg. 10

Endangerment Status

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UNESCO Status: Critically endangered Ethnologue Status: Not listed Sutherland's Red List: Vulnerable